Written by Joseph Cofresi, Wild Stew Field Crew Leader.
Split in two, our Wild Stew Field Crew took to the great outdoors once again. While some fared warmer weather nestled south of the Galiuro Mountains, fostering a newly formed partnership with the Nature Conservancy at the Muleshoe Ranch Preserve, others—aka, us—Chloe, Joseph, Max, Viola, Clay, and Foster—set out for another adventure on the Highline National Recreation Trail. Nearly 60 miles in length, the trail showcases a portion of the 200-mile long step-down off the Colorado Plateau deemed the Mogollon Rim. The trail passes below a boisterous beckoning of red rock, crooks in and out of canyons, contours and climbs multiple mesas all while providing a clear, uninterrupted glimpse south of the rim into the Hellsgate Wilderness and beyond. After three years of many folk contributing their blood, sweat, and tears into this projects, the final sections of the newly rerouted trail in Phase 2 are nearing completion. However, this does not mean the work is finished. As stewards of the land, our work is never finished.
Just as our extended family at Flagline Trails pushes to construct the last portions of new trail in Phase 2, we at Wild Arizona are pushing to finish a completed first round of “One Rock Dams” (ORDs) or “Media Lunas” built along the entirety of the closed off portions of the old, abandoned portions of the Highline Trail. We have been focusing our efforts on rehabilitating the decommissioned portions of old trail by aiding in erosion control, discouraging further trenching of the old trail, and also visually renaturalizing the transition zones where the old trail encounters the new trail. This hitch was no different.
We picked up right where we left off on our previous superhitch setting out to inspect the integrity and stability of the armored drains built the week prior. In addition to previewing our recent work on portions of the new trail, we also constructed three small retaining walls in places where the trail was already getting worked by the water. Moving forward, a few of us touched up a junction with the Myrtle Trail to better define it and close off its old connection to the trail where it spurs off the Highline Trail leading hikers up a rocky slope to the rim’s surface. We then bounced back to the old trail and continued our rehabilitation with the construction of ORDs. By the end of the hitch we had constructed 378 ORDs spanning the length of about one mile of the old Highline Trail. When the ground is soft and rocks are plentiful we can move swiftly and efficiently when building our little rock moons; but mother nature wanted to send some people to make sure we were doing okay… just in case.
This hitch we were first greeted by Wild Arizona’s Volunteer & Community Engagement Coordinator Nizhoni Baldwin, and Payson District Recreation Staff Officer Angie Abel, who both radiate sunshine whenever they’re around and as a show of gratitude Angie graciously gifted our crew with some sweet Highline Trail Merch. Despite the rays of sunshine present earlier in our hitch, we were again greeted by Old Man Winter and his long time friend, Jack Frost.
The two of them crept in one night leaving the green leaves of the foliage and red rock of the rim speckled with their signature sheening spectacle of blues and whites. Despite the chill in the air we combated the cool weather by indulging in a number of family meals, including burrito runs to Alfonso’s, our new tradition of Meat Mondays (every other Tuesday), and we also had the pleasure of grabbing dinner with a friend formerly with the Forest Service, who we had been working with on this project across several previous hitches before they were among thousands of employees abruptly terminated across the Forest Service. Despite the circumstances, it was great to see them staying positive during this strange transitional time.
We are excited to be nearing the last push to complete Phase 2 of the Highline Trail Restoration Initiative, but like I said before the work is never really finished. In a lot of ways it feels like the work is just beginning.
